Chilling images have emerged two North Korean teenagers sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for watching K-dramas. This can be seen in the images, which were apparently recorded in 2022 two 16 year olds handcuffed by uniformed officers in front of hundreds of students in an open-air stadium at an unknown location.

Because that was not the case, the young people were arrested “Think deeply about your mistakes” after he was caught watching South Korean television, which is banned in the North along with K-pop music. The video shows the two boys, dressed in gray uniforms, standing before a panel of officials as they were sentenced to twelve years of hard labor.

You see a sea of ​​young students, they all wore face masks and matching uniformswatching the two young men as they are handcuffed and led away. North Korea bans the publication of videos and photos from the country to the outside world.

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However, the clip, obtained by the BBC from the SAND Institute, which works with North Korean defectors, was reportedly shown to North Koreans as a warning of what would happen to them if they saw “decadent recordings.”

foreign media, in particular, anything considered ‘Western’ is strictly prohibited in North Korea. In the past, young people who watched or distributed K-dramas were sent to labor camps instead of imprisoned. But in 2020, North Korea imposed a sweeping “anti-reactionary thought” law that made enjoying South Korean entertainment punishable by death.

In December 2022, it was announced that two teenagers had been executed by firing squad in North Korea for watching and selling South Korean films. lThe young people, believed to be between 16 and 17 years old, were shot at an airport in the city of Hyesan.

A third boy of the same age was executed with them for killing his stepmother. Locals said the crimes were “equally bad.” Two sources who witnessed the executions confirmed what had happened Radio-free Asia.

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“Residents of Hyesan gathered in groups on the asphalt. The authorities put the teenage students before the public, sentenced them to death and shot them immediately,” said one of the witnesses.

Young North Koreans caught watching foreign films risk being sent to a disciplinary labor center, a source in Hyesan said. A second offense means that they are sent to a penal camp for five years together with their parents, as punishment for not disciplining their children.

But anyone caught distributing or selling South Korean films could face the death penalty. even if he is underage, the source added. In 2021, it was even reported that a North Korean man was shot dead for illegally selling South Korean films and music. The father, whose surname was Lee, was arrested in Wonsan, Gangwon Province, in 2021 before being executed in front of his family, who were forced to watch. (JO)